Elementary School Girls Organize Breast Cancer Fundraiser

Swaddled as they are by the innocence of youth, breast cancer is about as relevant to many fourth- and fifth-grade girls as teen pop idol Justin Bieber is to their grandparents. 

Friends Haley Schecher, 10, and Ellie Hemesath, 9, of West Des Moines are stepping out of the stereotype. They are students at Brookfield Elementary School in Waukee.

On their own initiative – and persistence, their mothers say – they’ve organized a Saturday walk around their Heritage Bend neighborhood to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, which is sponsoring walks and races across the country to raise money for breast cancer research. The one-mile walk/run starts at 3 p.m. and will be followed by a neighborhood party at 4.

Haley and Ellie weren’t sure why anyone wanted to interview them about what they’ve done. The Race for the Cure event isn’t in response to sobering statistics – that invasive breast cancer strikes one in eight women; that among women in the United States, breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer except lung cancer; that a woman’s risk of breast cancer nearly doubles if her mother, sister or daughter was diagnosed with the disease.

Of course, they’re not entirely naive about breast cancer, either – no one can be in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when the springish hue of pink is as prevalent as the riot of autumn colors painting the landscape. Both girls have been touched by it, Haley peripherally after a classmate’s grandmother died of the disease, but Ellie more personally: Her aunt is a breast-cancer survivor.

But still... Haley says she just came up with the idea as a way to bring the brand-new neighborhood together.

“A lot of people just moved here,” Ellie chimed in. “We didn’t think it was that big a thing.”

Ellie’s mom, Crystal, says the girls asked three or four times over several days if they could organize the walk. “I didn’t know if they were serious, or if it was a fleeting thought,” Crystal said.

She asked around the neighborhood to gauge support for the race, which began taking shape a month ago. The response was enthusiastic.

By Thursday, Haley and Ellie had already collected $400 from 23 families living in the vicinity of South 84th Street and Coachlight Drive, where the Heritage Bend neighborhood is located. Fifty people have signed up for the walk. Neighbor Tim Rice, who teaches at Des Moines Public Schools’ Central Campus, designed and donated T-shirts, giving his students a lesson in silk-screen in the process.

How proud are their moms? The question’s rhetorical, almost unnecessary.

“Extremely,” Donna Schecher said. “It was totally their idea and it came from the heart. Kids will surprise you sometimes.”

Crystal thinks the girls will someday understand the significance of what they're doing – "hopefully not because someone close to them is affected by breast cancer," she said, but because they recognize the importance of research, screening and a cure.

"As women, we all learn that one day or another," Crystal said. "I think they already know the joy of helping others, which I love."

Participants are welcome. Just call or e-mail Crystal Hemesath at 979-9733 or crystal@crystalhemesath.com.